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GOP Obstructionists turn on 9/11 Victims

Wed, 08/04/2010 - 1:39pm — Anonymous

This video of Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY) losing his temper on the House floor has been making the rounds in the blogosphere recently. What I find most compelling about the story, though, isn’t that Weiner raised his voice; it’s that he raised it against perhaps the most troubling example of GOP obstructionism yet.

Last week, the House tried to pass a bill to provide health care for the first responders who risked their lives to save their fellow Americans during the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. Many of these heroes face lingering health problems in the aftermath of their exposure to toxic ash and other debris.

But, instead of actually voting on the bill, House Republicans blocked it, citing both procedural and ideological issues. Here’s how Representative Weiner describes the debate:

It was frustrating to hear Republicans say these people didn’t deserve more help because, as one put it, “people get killed all the time.” Others called it another big entitlement program. Some said it was a giveaway to New York, or complained that the bill would have been paid for by closing a tax loophole. We responded to each of these arguments over the summer in the hours of hearings and markups of the bill.

There were also Republican objections that we put the bill on the “suspension calendar,” which is generally used for noncontroversial legislation, as this measure should have been. This move meant that the bill required a two-thirds favorable vote for approval rather than a simple majority, but it also kept the bill from getting bogged down in debate and stuck with poison-pill amendments.

...Instead of engaging in a real debate about how to address the challenges we face, Republicans have turned to obstruction, no matter the issue, and then cry foul after the fact. They claim to want an open legislative process with more consultation and debate, but the truth is they simply don’t want to pass anything.